Aim: Neurodevelopmental impairment in very preterm infants can be reasonably diagnosed by 18-24 months corrected age, whereas the predictive value of earlier assessments is debated. We hypothesized that neurological findings at 6 and 12 months indicative of subsequent cerebral palsy predict 18-24 months' neurodevelopmental impairment.
Methods: Neurodevelopmental examinations (Griffiths scales) at 20 months of age in 561 preterm infants (birth weight <1 500 g) were compared with results of standardized neurological examinations (Early Motor Pattern Profile; EMPP) and Griffiths scales at 6 (n = 451) and 12 months (n = 496) corrected age.
Background: Elevated serum concentrations of S-100B, a 21-kDa protein expressed in astroglial cells, has been used to assess cerebral damage after head trauma, infection, ischemia, and perinatal asphyxia.
Objective: As S-100B is eliminated by the kidneys, we investigated the feasibility of measuring S-100B in urine of newborns with severe perinatal asphyxia, and in very low birth weight (VLBW) preterm infants at risk for neurodevelopmental impairment.
Methods: We first analyzed urine samples of 8 term or near-term newborns without major medical problems, followed by urine samples of 2 term newborns with severe birth asphyxia, and finally urine samples of 8 VLBW (gestational age 24-28 weeks) infants collected every 4 h for up to 10 days.
Differences in the activity-rest behavior of preterm and full-term infants provide an important contribution to the analysis of the ontogeny of circadian rhythms. In this study, we recorded the activity-rest behavior of 17 preterm and 8 full-term infants at the approximate age of 20 months over an average of 10 days by means of actigraphic monitoring (Actiwatch, Cambridge Neurotechnology Ltd.).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProspective and controlled data about the individual risk profile in asymptomatic children with homozygous or double heterozygous risk genotypes for Factor V Leiden (FVL) and factor II (FII) G20210A are currently unavailable. The systematic and prospective observational study presented here was designed to determine the impact of the homozygous and double heterozygous FVL and FII G20210A genotypes on the prenatal and postnatal risk profiles of affected children. Risk infants and heterozygous controls were identified by screening of 85,304 neonates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBrain-specific proteins have been used to detect cerebral injury after birth asphyxia. Previous investigations suggest that serum protein S-100beta, brain-specific creatine kinase (CK-BB), and neuron-specific enolase (NSE) are capable of identifying patients with a risk of developing hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. Whether detection of elevated serum concentrations of these proteins reflects long-term neurodevelopmental impairment remains to be investigated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To assess psychomotor development and neurological sequelae in infants after surgery for congenital heart defects.
Design And Setting: Single institution prospective cohort study.
Patients: 90 of 112 consecutive surviving infants of less than 1 year of age, without brain anomalies, conditions, or syndromes associated with delayed mental development, who underwent cardiac surgery during an 18 month period; 20 control infants with minor or no congenital heart defects.
Background: Very low birthweight, i.e. a birthweight < 1500 g, is among the strongest determinants of infant mortality and childhood morbidity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis investigation was carried out to comparatively assess the duration of breast milk feeding and to analyze risk factors for early cessation of breast milk feeding in term and very preterm infants. A cohort study was performed in 89 consecutive very low birthweight (VLBW) infants (<1500 g) who survived for at least for one week, and 177 term infants with birthweights >2500 g born in the same hospital matched for gender and multiplicity. Median duration of breast milk feeding, as determined from charts and questionnaires mailed to the mothers at 6 and 12 months corrected age, was 36 days in VLBW infants, compared to 112 days in control infants (P<0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: The aim of the study was to assess the effect of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) on neurodevelopmental outcome and growth. Neurodevelopmental outcome of 20 out of 22 suriviving very low birthweight infants (VLBW) diagnosed with NEC between 1992 and 1996 was compared with 40 control infants matched for gestational age and year of admission. Follow-up studies were performed at 12 and 20 mo of corrected age.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To assess the ability of the Clinical Risk Index for Babies (CRIB) to predict long-term neurodevelopmental impairment in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants.
Design: Single-center cohort study.
Setting: Tertiary neonatal care hospital and follow-up clinic.
The aim of this prospective follow-up study was to evaluate the accuracy of a parent-completed questionnaire compared with professionally detected developmental delay. Parents of 108 very-low-birthweight (VLBW) infants and parents of 279 term control infants completed the German version of the Revised Prescreening Developmental Questionnaire (R-PDQ) at the corrected age of 12 months. Simultaneously, infants underwent developmental examination using the Griffiths Developmental Scale.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: To investigate effects of maternal drug abuse on neonatal hearing, auditory brain-stem evoked potentials were recorded in 132 consecutive newborn infants of mothers who had taken heroin or methadone during pregnancy, alongside 1016 neonates with and 483 hospitalized neonates without risk factors, as defined by the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing. In infants antenatally exposed to opiates, the rate of severe bilateral hearing impairment (> or =50 dB) did not differ from that of hospitalized neonates without risk factors (1.5% vs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecords of the only children's hospital equipped to perform exchange transfusions in West Berlin were used to identify all 29 non-hemolytic healthy term newborns with total serum bilirubin between 20 and 30 mg/dL, 16 of whom were available for follow-up neurological examination according to Touwen. Compared to 18 case controls with bilirubin <12 mg/dL, jaundiced children scored significantly worse only on the choreiform dyskinesia scale.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: To study the developmental effects of prenatal exposure to opiates, a prospective follow up study of 34 drug-exposed (opiates and nicotine) and 42 reference infants (nicotine exposure only) was conducted from January 1992 to September 1995. At the time of delivery, 12 of 34 mothers used opiates without medical control. Twenty-two mothers participated in a methadone maintenance programme.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Within a longitudinal developmental surveillance project we tested the accuracy of the Revised Prescreening Developmental Questionnaire (R-PDQ) to detect developmental retardation in very low birthweight (VLBW) infants.
Methods: Seventy surviving VLBW-infants born between July 1992 and December 1993 were re-examined at 6 months corrected age. The parent-completed questionnaires (n = 67) were compared with developmental assessment using the Griffiths Developmental Scale.
We report on a macrosomic newborn girl with albinism, a black lock at the right temporo-occipital region, and retinal depigmentation. Bilateral deafness was confirmed by brainstem auditory-evoked potentials. In addition, the infant had a severe defect of intestinal innervation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEarly Hum Dev
October 1992
Auditory brain stem responses potentials were recorded from 71 newborns within the first 2 weeks after birth; conceptional age ranged from 37 to 41 weeks. Thirty-nine newborns were infants of diabetic mothers (IDMs) (17 White A, 22 White B-D) and 32 healthy term newborns served as control group. IDMs with additional high risk for cochlear or brain stem integrity were excluded.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn 77 children aged 1 year the mother-child interaction in relation to the morbidity of the child was analysed. The following factors appeared to be correlated to the quality and quantity of the mother-child interaction: (i) the date of the first acute illness, (ii) the frequency of illness during the first year of life, (iii) the duration, frequency and seriousness of the illnesses after admission to day care at the age of one year. Conclusions are drawn for the practice of infant care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe upper respiratory tracts of 20 children attending a crèche were studied for bacteria up to the 128th day of crèche attendance. To this end nose and throat swabs as well as double blood withdrawals were to determine antibodies against various respiratory viruses. The germ spectrum thus obtained was correlated with the acute pathological processes occurring during the period of investigation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPadiatr Grenzgeb
September 1990
Differences of the bacterial population of home- and daycared children are more significant within the nose than in the pharynx. In vitro the efficiency of erythromycine against bacteria of the nose-pharynx-area is broader then that of Penicilline and the combination Trimethoprime plus Sulfonamide.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPadiatr Grenzgeb
December 1990
1. During the first six months after the admission to day-care acute infections of children are very frequent. This gives rise to the question for the justification of the indication of antibacterial chemotherapy during this period.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMore home visits should be made in the context of prophylactic care for children up to three years of age, in order to come to grips with problems of child development likely to results from the inadequate knowledge and experience of parents and to promote age-adjusted motivation for the undisturbed development of their children. In this sense home visits can be an effective approach to primary prevention and a contribution to harmonious development in childhood. The priorities of counselling and their content are subject to change, depending on the age and development of the children involved.
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